New listening space.. new system

Me too. I keep saying that one day of like to get a community college education in electronics.

One reviewer said, regarding DAC's "as far as giant killers these days it's a crowd of David's". That seems about right. I also have trouble investing lots of cash in a DAC because the market evolves so fast. Part of the reason I went with the 1543

I agree 100% with how the market evolves. Fortunately the technology in general isn't evolving much, people are just thinking outside of the box with already existing parts.

I know the ess9218 chips will be out soon so well see of their is some advancenent

Schiit uses their analog devices chip in their flagship yggdrisil thats normal use is in MRI machines and military tolerance applications!! They had to custom fab everything to get it to work as a stereo DAC as it was never intended to be used as an audio device. Much respect for schiit for that move.

Chord uses a proprietary FPGA which are pretty much programmable mini computer board to control the dac. These excel in specialization and I have experience with ASICs so I understand the theory. They are quite powerful and don't be surprised when most DACs are FPGA based, its a lot of r&d for a audio company but I'm sure it will catch on.
 
I agree 100% with how the market evolves. Fortunately the technology in general isn't evolving much, people are just thinking outside of the box with already existing parts.

I know the ess9218 chips will be out soon so well see of their is some advancenent

Schiit uses their analog devices chip in their flagship yggdrisil thats normal use is in MRI machines and military tolerance applications!! They had to custom fab everything to get it to work as a stereo DAC as it was never intended to be used as an audio device. Much respect for schiit for that move.

Chord uses a proprietary FPGA which are pretty much programmable mini computer board to control the dac. These excel in specialization and I have experience with ASICs so I understand the theory. They are quite powerful and don't be surprised when most DACs are FPGA based, its a lot of r&d for a audio company but I'm sure it will catch on.
That's an astute distinction between technology and application.

Fascinating trends
 
the krell is here to stay, once it warmed it the music just flowed... timbre is on point and everything has a rightness to it. I will be rewiring it soon to do single amp powering the NHTs, its a pain since they are 2" from the front wall, so I have to move them to rewire.. and I spent a good 40 mins laser aligning everything, its a labor of love though

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I love it so far. No fear of that Onkyo on the carpet? I would be scared of static, but I worry too much.

appreciate the thought but It's only on the carpet temporarily, and is completly disconnected, my new krell replaced it and I just placed it to the side quickly. I will have a gear rack for the back wall with all my vintage equipment
 
the krell is here to stay, once it warmed it the music just flowed... timbre is on point and everything has a rightness to it. I will be rewiring it soon to do single amp powering the NHTs, its a pain since they are 2" from the front wall, so I have to move them to rewire.. and I spent a good 40 mins laser aligning everything, its a labor of love though

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Temporary tape markers to remember the placement?
 
Magnificent room and system.

Have you thought about running a double conversion UPS to divorce your power from the grid ?

I'm really pleased with my Eaton PW9130. The fan noise is the only draw back, but I can cure that.
 
Magnificent room and system.

Have you thought about running a double conversion UPS to divorce your power from the grid ?

I'm really pleased with my Eaton PW9130. The fan noise is the only draw back, but I can cure that.

thanks, paint will be up within a few weeks, been super busy and it's going to be a good amount of work

that Eaton is serious business, as of now it's sort of out of the budget considering I have a large power load and these things get expensive fast once you get to a few kw

It's 100% on the list for the future, I live in NY so I'm well aware of the grid noise, I'm happy now with my electrical situation, I get very consistent voltage which is good enough for me right now. my source & preamp equipment are on a panamax m5100ex power conditioner & all amps are plugged into the wall on their own dedicated circuits.
 
small update- shifted a few things around in the room. primarily the subwoofer which I found has much better phase and response. previously is was behind/ off to the side of the listening position and this made some music pieces sound weird, the decay wasn't right

now the woofer is wired in phase with the speakers opposed to the quasi push pull I had setup. my friend will be visiting me from california in october and will be brining his $1000 mic for critical in room response tests. I will then implement my balanced miniDSP 2x4 to correct some of the bass modes in the room, which are really not as bad as I thought. bass is excellent and tight, some freq are a few db up but no major bloat/boomyness problem

listening position view-

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my krell KAV-250a/3, using mogami 2354 star quad balanced IC and 8awg van den hul MC hybrid silver speaker cables, DIY power cable using oyaide connectors

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not my pic- buy guts of the krell

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Integra Research RDC 7.1 I still can't get over how refined the differential PCM1704s sound

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Power amp setup, I'm currently using the hafler P7000 bridged for the amp. I was using the p4000 for biamp but the krell runs full range no problem, will experiment more in the future. at the bottom the 2000wrms bridged crest vs1500!! it's a toy and I'll hook it up to the subwoofer when I have basshead friends over. It really makes the sub move

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and as of right now I'm having fun substituting in my kappa 6.1s. Damn do these things scale with the source and amplification you feed them. I've never hear them sound this good and it really intrigues me to get a pair of larger infinitys... they sound much more "fun" than my cold analytical 3.3s. But nothing will come close to the NHT's neutrality and finesse of every recording which I've really come to love, critical listening is a pleasure on the 3.3s

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next up room painting to be done last week of september. and full room correction in october. I put off buying acoustic treatments until I TRULY know whats going on witht he room interactions.. my friend mic will show it all and hes great at giving advice for these kidns of things.

It'll be bass traps in the corners for sure, and DIY diffusion/absorption panels, materials & size depending on how things go with the in room response.

fun stuff man for real
 
took out the integra research RDC 7.1 to clean up the wire mess & apply some deoxit gold to all the active connections. Every time I move this thing I can't believe how heavy and big it is.. as well as build quality.. definitely the most overbuilt thing I own, only edges out the krell slightly. the thing is a pre/pro with 0 amplification but it has a crazy big power supply and heatsinks, and is fully balanced

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size compared to the Krell KAV-250 lol\

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bonus shot of the krell

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even though its technically a HT pre/pro, it was made to specs that even the most critical 2 channel user would appreciate. I use it strictly for 2 channel and I love it, if you can get one used it offers one of the best values in used audio, at over $5000 new in 2005-6 you can get it for 500-800 used on ebay/etc

Its fully balanced circuitry, apogee master clock, and dual differential PCM1704uks still make this beast relevant in terms of a digital source and preamp. seriously along with the krell for amplification and revealing speakers NHT 3.3s/RBH 641se the sound coming out is to die for... I'm very spoiled to be able to create such a impressive system in such a short amount of time!!
 
my recent admiration for others monitors in their main systems sparked the inspiration for me to bring my only pair of monitors out, monitor audio gold PMC 700.

these are british made 2 ways using gold anodized cone and a exotic gold/magnesium tweeter, part of monitor audios older lines when gold was the TOTL

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never really had these hooked up to nice equipment, sort of imprompt PC speakers when my place was under construction

I am floored by these speakers... the sheer size of the sound coming from them is more than enough to fill my large room. I didn't even bother bringing them closer than the placement I had for the RBH 641s and the Kappa 6.1s. They have really opened up with my current gear

Seriously impressive sound, and being crossed over @ 80hz to my ultra linear 18" its truly a seamless experience, acoustic music is effortless and it seems they really synergize with the krell

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current iteration of gear-

monitor audio PMC 700
source- larry moore's Ultra Fi iRoc TDA1541 NOS USB DAC with upgraded caps and power supply. using PCI USB card w. external psu
pre- integra research RDC 7.1
amp- krell KAV-250 250wpc @ 8 ohm
running mogami gold balanced IC and van den hul silver w. vampire wire terminations
subwoofer- 18" stereo integrity DS4 in a 6" cu ft sealed box @ 27hz. linear 20hz-100hz

will report back, I'm loving them though.
 
I think part of the trick with small monitors is to over-power them. Obviously don't overdrive/distort/generally destroy or set them on fire, but they like to have a bit of power behind them. Just a hunch.

It looks like you'd have quite a desk setup with the Onkyo 504 and those monitor audio's...
 
talk to me about stereo subs.. picked up another 18" along with 2x qsc mx1500a that are 1500wrms @ 4 ohm bridged each. going to make a rack of them and my own balanced TRS patch cables to run to a new dbx 234sv xover. will use the biamp L/R balanced out of my integra research rdc 7.1 pre/pro

making identical enclosure and rack tomorrow at a friends, I have no room for tools here

stereo integrity ds4 18" DVC 2 ohm, rated 1200rms, 4" VC
sealed box 6 cu ft f3 of 27hz

not sure if I will carpet the boxes or dedicate time to finishing and vinyl wrap

minidsp balanced is in the mail, my sound engineer friend with a really good mic will be visiting later this month and we will perfect everything

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Really loving this thread so far! Impressive list of equipment and I also like throwing Pro Audio gear into the mix.
 
talk to me about stereo subs.. picked up another 18" along with 2x qsc mx1500a that are 1500wrms @ 4 ohm bridged each. going to make a rack of them and my own balanced TRS patch cables to run to a new dbx 234sv xover. will use the biamp L/R balanced out of my integra research rdc 7.1 pre/pro

making identical enclosure and rack tomorrow at a friends, I have no room for tools here

stereo integrity ds4 18" DVC 2 ohm, rated 1200rms, 4" VC
sealed box 6 cu ft f3 of 27hz

not sure if I will carpet the boxes or dedicate time to finishing and vinyl wrap

minidsp balanced is in the mail, my sound engineer friend with a really good mic will be visiting later this month and we will perfect everything

fkb7r93.jpg
That's an enormous amount of cone surface. I like to imagine the furniture in your listening room moves back and forth like seaweed at the bottom of the ocean.

Dude when are you gonna get some paint and ambient lighting up? Can't wait to see how things look all finished up although I understand the priority to finish up the system before cosmetics come into play
 
Really loving this thread so far! Impressive list of equipment and I also like throwing Pro Audio gear into the mix.

thanks so much

That's an enormous amount of cone surface. I like to imagine the furniture in your listening room moves back and forth like seaweed at the bottom of the ocean.

Dude when are you gonna get some paint and ambient lighting up? Can't wait to see how things look all finished up although I understand the priority to finish up the system before cosmetics come into play

yea im excited to see the impact of the 2nd sub in my room. sub 30hz notes really pressurize the room with the single 18 its very cool

the room should have been painted already but since getting a new job with a lot more hours I've been restrained to just weekends to work on my system. dealing with scheduling between my job, my friends which I need to help move everything, and my other projects its been a real pain.

It will be gone by end of the november even if I need to hire people to get it done...
 
update. tons of materials to finish up this room on the way

going to paint next few weekends, carpet the sub boxes, make/buy acoustic panels for the ceiling

I got super lucky, I found someone downsizing their treated listening room with all gik acoustics acoustic panels. I got 4 of the 242 (4'x2'x4") bass panels and 2 of the 244 (4'x2'x6"), along with 4 of the tri corner bass traps (4x2 triangle), for about 30% of msrp

to say they significantly cleaned up my system is an understatement, removing a resonant echo and the tri corner bass traps seriously cleaned up the sound, everything is more concise and image was brought back into focus, seriously so cool.

still experimenting with the placement, will have in room measurements later this month but even the basic 1st reflection points and corner traps was a day and night difference.

I have 4 of the bass traps so I was going to double stack to the ceiling but my ceiling is a few inches short, if I didn't use 2x 5/8 with resilient channel it would've fit probably..

I've been loving the sound of the RBH 641se, the krell amp really took them to another level.

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Epic progress for sure! Sound treatment is next in my room, too.
I agree with what you said about the NHTs: cold / analytical / detailed / finesse-ful, excellent for critical listening. Surgical like.
Since I got my SuperTwos, they've forever ruined my JAMO bookshelves for me and even my SB Acoustics car system now could be brighter.
The NHTs are very intolerant to sub-par recordings as well.
But I could never go back! hehe
 
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